Category : Memorabilia

Joe Franklin was an American radio and television host personality from New York City. His show began in 1950 on WJZ-TV (later WABC-TV) and moved to WOR-TV (later WWOR-TV) from 1962 to 1993. Those are the stats. In reality, he was the living embodiment of the golden era of showbiz and, in fact, the inventor of the contemporary television talk show.

Thankfully, some of those shows have now begun to surface in an official YouTube archive. On tap are interviews with Fay Wray, Tiny Tim, Andy Devine, Irish McCalla (from She Demons!), Joan Fontaine, Donald O’Connor and Jay Leno. The J. Geils Band also makes an appearance, lip-syncing “Freeze Frame.”